The Teton Mountains seen from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. . (photo by author)
A year after I was ordained, I found myself driving to Grand Teton National Park just South of Yellowstone to spend time doing research at the New York Zoological Society’s summer station at the University of Wyoming in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Don’t be impressed. I wasn’t doing doctoral work, I simply needed to do a research project in animal behavior to complete my master’s degree in Biology.
“What? But, you’re a priest! Why would you be studying wildlife in Wyoming?”
Among our ministries, we Resurrectionists run schools and colleges. Like Jesuits and Franciscans , my congregation is an “active community.” Along with religious and catechetical subjects, we also teach secular subjects like Latin and Greek, History and Biology. We believe all truth, all knowledge leads to the wonder of God.
You, also, need to know that I am a flat-lander, Chicago born. Although I’d spent summers in the Ozark mountains, they are really just hills as in “Them thar hills!” I had never seen a real mountain.
I was going to pass the summer in the Rocky Mountains studying several species of birds which live in a valley surrounded by mountains. The summers are short up there so I needed to arrive before the start of Spring.
It was early May and a frigid night when I arrived at the research station on a on a rainy dark night with the temperature dropping. Snow was predicted. It was pitch dark when I arrived except for my car lights and the flashlight which helped me get around.
When I pulled up to the camp, I saw an envelope taped to the gate. It contained a note telling me where my cabin was and a key that opened the gate and the door to my cabin. The flashlight lit my way until I found cabin sixteen.
I’d driven nearly ten hours that day through storms in Colorado and Wyoming. I was beat. There must have been mountains but I couldn’t see them. It was overcast and rainy all day. I got into my sleeping bag and settled in for the night, totally unaware of my surroundings. And, I was alone.
I awoke the next morning to bright light shining through my cabin window. I could see that it had snowed maybe 6 or 8 inches. I dressed and opened a can of coke. I put on my shoes and prepared to check out where I was. I opened the door and the sight took my breath away. There, glistening and gigantic were the Teton Mountains covered in fresh snow. The unexpected scene awed me in its silent immensity. Beauty and wonder filled my soul.
I’ve prayed the opening line of Psalm 121 all of my life: “I lift up my eyes to the mountain from when comes my help.” But that morning those words poured out of my heart.
Bishop Barron says that the quickest way to insight into God is the way of beauty. In beauty and wonder we can discover the existence of God. We also begin to grasp how wonderful he must be.
I’m sure you have experienced wonder, even awe at an unexpected moment in your life. Maybe like me you saw a mountain, or a flower blooming, or met someone who completely captivated you. You were stunned by beauty. Your being opened in wonder. It was an amazing kind of grace that suddenly and unsuspectedly fell on you, as it did on me that May morning when I saw mountains for the first time.
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